Will I get the house in the divorce?

When you and your spouse decide to divorce, your life becomes a little topsy-turvy for a while. You likely aren’t sure what exactly will happen when you divorce, what assets you’ll receive and if you’ll be able to keep your home. What if your spouse wants to keep the house too? Who will it go to?

Equitable division of assets

New York is an equitable asset division state. That means money you earned during your marriage will be yours, including that from retirement accounts and other investments. If you owned your home before you were married, and your spouse isn’t on the home’s title, you may be in a better position to keep it.

However, as part of equitable division of property, the court will evaluate a property division that is fair, not only whose name might be on the title of your home or vehicles. Factors the court will evaluate as part of equitable division of property include the following:

• The income and property of each spouse at the date of the marriage and the date of the divorce filing
• The age and health of each spouse
• Whether either spouse will receive alimony
• What domestic requirements the custodial parent will need
• The future financial needs of each spouse

Working through property division

You and your spouse will have to work through some of your property division. If you really want to keep the house, and you’ll be the custodial parent for your children, you may need to give up other assets. Perhaps, you’ll let your spouse keep more of their retirement funds, or give them some of yours, to buy out their share in the home’s assets.

You’ll need to consult an experienced family law attorney to give you a better idea of what assets you’ll receive in your divorce and how you can keep the family home if that asset is really important to you.